By Lookout Staff

August 5, 2026 – The City will host a ceremony Monday to rename a stretch of street after a Black entrepreneur who planned to open a beach club on land taken by the City some 70 years ago.

The ceremony comes after the City Council in April renamed the portion of Vicente Terrace -- between Main Street and Ocean Avenue -- to Silas White Street.

The street is near the Civic Center property a group of investors called Silas White & Associates had signed a lease-to-purchase agreement to turn into the Ebony Beach Club. The plan was dashed the following year when the City filed to eminent domain five parcels that included the Ebony Club site.

“I am proud of the innovative and critical work that Santa Monica is doing in the restorative justice space,” Mayor Caroline Torosis said in a statement. “This is about more than property. It’s about truth, accountability, and taking real action to repair the legacy of racial injustice in our city.”

The renaming of the street, which has no mailing addresses, was part of a $350,000 legal settlement unanimously approved by the Council with White's family.

The settlement also includes proclaiming October 12 as Silas White day and establishing an exhibit honoring the entrepreneur, who died in 1962.

The settlement laid the groundwork for the City’s establishment of a Restorative Justice Program that is one of the largest locally funded initiatives of its kind in the nation. The Council also established a Restorative Justice Commission and is hiring a professional administrator to develop and run the program.

Once seated, the seven-member Commission will be "charged with developing criteria, eligibility standards, and oversight mechanisms" for a program that will direct $3.5 million, and up to $5.5 million, in funding towards "repairing harms perpetuated" by the City.